Show for Sept 19, 2010: Mark Levine and the Art of Latin Jazz
Pianist Mark Levine jumped into Latin Jazz almost by accident 40 years ago. It became a lifelong pursuit, and Mark became a leading exponent of the music. He talks about his beginnings in the genre, his continued apprenticeship, his Latin Grammy-nominated tribute to Brazilian composer Moacir Santos and his performance at the 2010 Monterey Jazz Festival. He also explains some of the fundamentals of the form, like the clave rhythm.
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Show for Sept 12, 2010. Rudresh Mahanthappa: Trans-Oceanic Jazz
It’s not so much what Rudresh Mahanthappa is doing, mixing jazz and South Indian classical music. Jazz has always been multicultural, and east-west cross-pollination is nothing new. It’s how he does it, honoring both traditions and compromising neither, creating a confluence so fully realized, the two streams become one. He and his bandmates pull off other balancing acts as well, making music that’s both cerebral and physical, rigorously composed while swinging hard.
In this interview, we listen to a lot of musical examples, and Rudresh talks about his jazz beginnings, his Indo-American identity crisis and ensuing exploration of Indian classical music, his love of mathematical form and his collaborations with Kadri Gopalnath, Bunky Green and others. With some side trips into raga theory, time signatures, intervalic progression and other musical wonkery.
Rudresh Mahanthappa Rudresh and Bunky Green
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